Here’s a fun seasonal dessert: Pumpkin Dessert Waffles.

The waffle batter is made with pumpkin pie spices, topped with ice cream and regular or spiced whipped cream.

 
The recipe for Chinese 5-Spice Whipped Cream is below, along with uses for leftover pumpkin purée.
 
 
WHIPPED CREAM

Make the whipped cream in advance, using an iSi whipped cream maker.

It’s so much better than commercial aerosol whipped cream. If you use enough whipped cream to give it a bit of space in your cabinet, you’ll be happy to have one.

Alternatively, you can beat the whipped cream yourself with electric beaters.

To make whipped cream up to a day in advance, make this stabilized whipped cream recipe, with added gelatin. The gelatin prevents it from collapsing.
 
 
RECIPE: PUMPKIN BUTTERMILK DESSERT WAFFLES

This is our approximation of the recipe in photo #1. You can pre-plate by zig-zagging the caramel or chocolate sauce and set the waffle on top of the sauce. This recipe is courtesy Taste Of Home.

Ingredients For 6 Waffles

2 large eggs

 
For The Whipped Cream (2 Cups)

[1] Pumpkin Dessert Waffles topped with burnt caramel ice cream, from 13 Restaurant | Philadelphia.

[2] If you have leftover pumpkin purée, we have 10 uses for it below. (Photo © Jessica Gavin, Certified Culinary Scientist. Check out her blog of family-friendly recipes.)

[3] For a garnish or for snacking, we love Superseedz, sweet or savory flavored pumpkin seeds. These are coated with dark chocolate and sea salt (photo © Good Eggs).

[4] How about some pumpkin ice cream on your pumpkin waffles? Ben & Jerry makes Pumpkin Cheesecake ice cream, Talenti makes Pumpkin Pie (photo © Ben & Jerry).

[5] Chinese Five-Spice powder is a versatile Chinese seasoning. The five spices vary by region and individual preference. The version from McCormick is perfect for this recipe, since it doesn’t have pepper and savory ingredients. It’s a blend of anise, cinnamon, cloves, ginger and star anise (photo © McCormick).

[1] It’s easy to make: hot chocolate topped with a donut, plus garnish (photo © Adrianna Calvo | Pexels).

[2] Pirouette cookies. These are the Pirouline brand; Pepperidge Farm sells Pirouettes, which are similar (photo © Pirouline | Facebook).

Is it breakfast? Dessert? A snack?

This cup of hot chocolate is topped with a donut, then garnished (photo #1).

Here’s how to make your own.
 
 
RECIPE: THE NEW HOT CHOCOLATE & DONUT

Ingredients For The Hot Chocolate (4 Servings)

 
For A Dessert Garnish

You can add whatever you like here. What’s in the photo:

 
Preparation

1. MAKE the hot chocolate. Don’t save time by using instant: This is meant to be a quality recipe.

2. TOP with the donut and the whipped cream. Garnish as desired.
 
 
MORE SPECIAL HOT CHOCOLATE

You may also like this delicious European Spiced Hot Chocolate recipe.

Don’t want a donut? Check out our 25 ways to enhance and garnish hot chocolate.

*For really rich hot chocolate, substitute a cup of half-and-half for one or two of the cups of milk.

Forget the chips, forget the pretzels: Our favorite crunchy snack is Cheddies cheddar cheese crackers.

Cheddies were a serendipitous food find.

Last summer, we were at an enormous trade show—think the Disneyland of food, occupying an entire convention center.

After tasting samples of every type of food for four hours straight, we could not eat another bite. It was time to go home.

On the way out, someone handing out samples offered us a bag of Cheddies. We were food-bleary and too tired to refuse, so we dropped them into our tote bag and headed out.

The next day, as we sorted through the tote bag, we found the little bag of Cheddies and ate them. Delicious!

We headed to the website, and then to Amazon, where we used our Amazon Prime subscription to save on a shipment of six family-size bags.

And after re-ordering and enjoying bag after bag, we concluded: Cheddies are more than delicious. They are addictive.

There are four varieties:

 
The line is all natural, preservative-free and certified kosher. We promise you happy crunching.
 
 
BEYOND SNACKING

We also use Cheddies for/in/with:

[1] Cheddies are made in four flavors. White Cheddar is the classic (all photos © Cheddies).

[2] For portion control, we use a bowl—or we’d go through the whole 3.2-ounce package.

[3] You can taste the real cheddar.

The Cheddies line was created by two brothers in college, who weren’t thrilled with the snacks they bought from the store.
After surveying their peers, nearly all of them enjoyed snacking on cheese crackers.

So the brothers got to work, starting with whole block, all natural cheddar cheese as the main ingredient. You can taste the cheddar quality in each bite.
 
 
GET YOURS

[1] Finally, an easy way to make wide vegetable ribbons (both photos © Betty Bossi).

[2] Cannelloni made with vegetable “noodles.”

If you use a spiralizer to slice vegetables into pasta-like strands, here’s something new for you:

The Betty Bossi Veggie Sheet Slicer.

It lets you cut your vegetables and fruits into wafer thin sheets.

This specialty slicer helps you make healthy, colorful and creative meals.

Slice cylindrical or round fruits and vegetables into paper-thin sheets as long as you like (at least, until you use up the fruit or veg).

Consider:

Our products of the week are sweet ones: beverages from Almond Breeze, organic sugar from Dulcie and mochi from My/Mo.

As with all of our Products Of The Week, we consume them all, regularly.
 
 
1. ALMOND BREEZE ALMONDMILK MEXICAN HOT CHOCOLATE

Recently we reviewed the line of Almond Breeze Almondmilk nondairy milk drinks, which have become a favorite of ours.

When we feel like a milkshake, we pour ourselves some smooth, creamy Almondmilk Horchata or Almondmilk Blended With Real Bananas.

Now there’s something new in our fridge: limited-edition Almond Breeze Almondmilk Mexican Hot Chocolate.

It’s made with traditional Mexican hot chocolate ingredients like allspice, cayenne and cinnamon, and is delicious hot or cold.

Served hot or cold- This new beverage can be enjoyed multiple ways.

A dairy-free option for the holidays, the line is dairy- free, gluten- lactose- and soy-free. It is certified kosher-dairy by OU.

Another holiday-appropriate beverage, Almond Breeze Almondmilk Nog—egg nog without the eggs or dairy—is on the shelves now through January.

Discover more at BlueDiamond.com.
 
 
2. DULCIE ORGANIC CANE SUGAR

If you’re trying to eliminate refined foods from your diet, remember to include your sugar.

Dulcie is a new brand of organic, unrefined, whole cane sugar. It’s panela sugar, a type most people aren’t familiar with, which is extensively used in

An unbleached and unrefined sweetener made from sugar cane, it resembles brown sugar.

However, because it is unprocessed it contains more minerals than brown sugar, which is a refined product (unrefined sugar is called raw sugar).

Golden in color, it can be used in the same way as refined white sugar. In coffee or tea, it has a richer, rounder flavor (as opposed to a cloying flavor).

Panela is popular in Colombia. A variation called piloncillo is used in Mexico, and a variation called rapadura is made in Venezuela.

All of these are related to the jaggery of India and to the muscovado sugar of Barbados.

Dulcie retains all the natural vitamins and minerals found in the sugarcane plant, which are stripped during the refining process for white sugar.

Dulcie is handmade by artisans in Colombia, and goes plant-to-jar. Here’s how it’s made.

Dulcie is certified organic, kosher (by K M), non-GMO, gluten-free, plant based and vegan.

Try it in your favorite baked goods, on oatmeal, in coffee and tea, and anywhere you need some natural sweetness.

Dulcie is available at natural food stores, and online at Amazon.

Discover more at Dulcie.com.
 
 
3. MY/MO MOCHI ICE CREAM

“Chew Your Ice Cream” says My/Mo Mochi. If you’ve had mochi, you know what that means.

It not, it’s time to try them, especially with the limited edition seasonal flavors:

 
My/Mo Mochi Ice Cream is a two- or three-bite ball of ice cream that’s wrapped in chewy, pillowy mochi dough.

The dough is gluten-free, made from rice.

While it sounds like a dessert from Japan, it was actually invented in in 1993 in Los Angeles. Here’s the story.

Available in 12 year-round plus seasonal flavors, My/Mo Mochi gives snackers a fun way to enjoy ice cream in a handheld form—no dishes or spoons required.

The line is gluten free and rBST free, and certified kosher by OK.

Take a look at all the flavors.

Discover more at MyMoMochi.

[1] Dairy-free, spicy Mexican hot chocolate (photos #1 and #2 © Blue Diamond).

[2] Celebrate the holidays with dairy-free, egg-free “egg nog.”

[3] Organic, unrefined sugar tastes so much better (photos #3 and #4 © Dulcie).

[4] Fruit not sweet enough? Sprinkle it with Dulcie.

[5] Peppermint mochi for the holidays (photos #5 and #6 © My/Mochi Mochi Ice Cream).

[6] My/Mochi fall flavors: Apple Pie a la Mode and Pumpkin Spice